OK. Let us consider: “Person X getting attached to a flower in the garden.”
1. Yes. It is critical to understand the verse “Cakkhuñca paṭicca rūpe ca uppajjāti cakkhuviññāṇaṃ.”
- It can be separated out a bit: “Cakkhuñ ca paṭicca rūpe ca uppajjāti cakkhu viññāṇaṃ.” It means “when cakkhu and a rupa come into contact cakkhu viññāṇa results.”
- Here, cakkhu is NOT the eyes; rupa DOES NOT refer to the external rupa; cakkhu viññāṇa DOES NOT only refer to “seeing” but more than “just seeing” because it may arise with a “certain expectation” (In your suggested example of looking at a flower, it could be to pluck it and take it home.)
- The eyes capture an image of the flower. The brain processes that image; during that process, the brain adds one’s likes/dislikes about such a flower to that image. That modified “rupa” is then passed onto the “cakkhu pasada rupa” (or simply “cakkhu“), which is in the manomaya kaya (gandhabba.) Those are the cakkhu and rupa in “Cakkhuñ ca paṭicca rūpe ca uppajjāti cakkhu viññāṇaṃ.”
- Because that rupa is NOT a true representation of the flower in the garden. Therefore, the cakkhu viññāṇa arising in the mind sees a somewhat “distorted representation of the flower,” and that is why one’s mind may also generate a “liking for that flower.” Thus, cakkhu viññāṇa is more than just “seeing the flower.” It may prompt one to pluck it and take it home!
- You can replace the flower with a “more enticing object” (e.g., one’s favorite meal, a car one likes to buy, etc.), and you can see how thoughts of greed arise with a cakkhu viññāṇa.
2. Those are the basics one must have an idea of. More details in “Contact Between Āyatana Leads to Vipāka Viññāna.” Don’t forget to read the links referenced.
3. Those ideas are necessary to follow the recent posts in the section: “Sotapanna Stage via Understanding Perception (Saññā).”
- I don’t know whether you read any of those or whether you can understand them. Those are somewhat deeper aspects of Buddha’s teachings.
- If your understanding is not at that level, try to understand the post in #2 with the information in #1. Don’t worry. Each person has to start somewhere. I just don’t know the background of a person writing a comment or asking a question.